


What's the difference between a magician and a poisoner?

by makbaes (gentlemindedlostgirl)



Series: NCT Supernatural Universe [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Vampires, Werewolves, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-04 11:51:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlemindedlostgirl/pseuds/makbaes
Summary: “I need your help,” Ten said, standing in the doorway of the witches workshop.“What’s going on?” Kun asked as he set down the herbs he had been setting up for drying.“It’s the wolves,” Ten started to explain. And Kun didn’t really need to hear more than that."What is the difference between a physician and a pretender? A magician and a poisoner? The answer lies somewhere between ignorance and intent."Maybe it's not bad magic if you have good intentions.





	1. I.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot, WayV, I don't have time for this! But here we are!  
> I'm not sure how far into this I'm actually going to get. My life is about to get busy again once I go to school. So updates may be more along the lines of "when I feel like it/have the time" than regular. But I'll do my best!

Kun was tired. He’d had a good year, one of the best since he had moved to Seoul. But a good year did not necessarily mean an easy one. Kun was a hard worker and was more often than not found camped inside the witches workshop. He found comfort in his work in an increasingly uncertain world. Laws were changing. Councils were getting new officials, following an American trend of anti-supernatural sentiments and more conservative leaders that promoted stricter regulations. Even within the supernatural sphere, there was an air of discomfort with the way things were. When people got scared, they got bold. With supernaturals, that was all the more dangerous. 

_ “Two werewolves northwest of Incheon found dead in their apartment. Investigators have stated that there is evidence of foul play, but no word yet as to the source. Rumors state that an anti-supernatural extremist group may be at fault.” _

Kun sighed and turned off the radio. He usually liked to listen to the news while he worked in the basement of the witch cottage if he was alone. Kun felt his best when he was aware of the goings-on in the world around him. But he could only handle the over-saturation of negative news for so long before he got exhausted. He figured he should take more consideration into Ten’s suggestion that he should get the Empath evaluation as he tied together sprigs of rosemary.

He heard footsteps trample down the stairs. Kun had gotten very good at learning the people in his coven by the way that they walked. It made it so that he was less startled when a face would inevitably appear in front of him. He knew the hard, heavy heels of the shoes meant that Ten was home early. 

Sure enough, he soon heard Ten’s voice speaking out into the basement.

“I need your help,” Ten said, standing in the doorway of the witches workshop. 

Kun chewed on the inside of his cheek as he looked to the coven leader. Ten was a powerful young man. Anyone who interacted with him would notice it off the bat. He held himself like someone who was not to be messed with. That side of him was more often reserved for strangers. Kun normally got to see a very different side of Ten--one who smiled easily, laughed often, and was something of a brat, for lack of a better term. 

That was not the Ten standing in the doorway. This Ten was in a black jacket, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes dark and storming with ill-intentions. If Kun didn’t know Ten, he would have been afraid. He was glad that the new apprentices weren’t around to see this, Kun didn’t want them scared off. 

“What’s going on?” Kun asked as he set down the herbs he had been setting up for drying. 

“It’s the wolves,” Ten started to explain. And Kun didn’t  _ really  _ need to hear more than that. It was no secret that more of the members of Ten’s coven were completely in love with pack 127 than weren’t. Hell, Ten was engaged to the pack leader. Kun would have followed any of Ten’s orders if it meant they were doing something to keep that pack and its members safe. 

“Kun, you know I don’t fuck around with bad magic,” Ten started as he walked into the workshop. “I don’t like the idea of risking my place as a coven leader, and I want us to be well-respected.”

“But…” Kun said, feeling slight anxiety rising in his chest. He didn’t like the way this was going. Ten never even  _ joked  _ about dark magic. It was too bad a line to cross. Witches who practiced dark magic were shunned by the community. Their rights to a coven were revoked. They would have been  _ ruined.  _ But Ten had a look in his eyes that told Kun there were no boundaries that would keep him from his goals. 

“But someone’s trying to hurt our wolves,” Ten finished. “They’ve been getting threats in the mail. Someone vandalized Jisung’s locker at school. The kid’s  _ petrified. _ And Yuta--” Ten trailed off. Anyone who didn’t know Ten might have thought he was trying to save Kun from something he didn’t want to hear. Kun knew it was a tactic to get him further on board. 

It was working. His hands gripped white-knuckled at the worktop. “What about Yuta?”

Ten pursed his lips before speaking. “Yuta swears someone’s been following him. We don’t know for certain. But I don’t like the odds.”

Kun was the composed one of the coven. He was the one everyone had teased had gotten all of the emotional maturity and stole it from the rest of them. And Kun was, in general, much softer than the rest of his coven. But that did not mean that he wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for the people that he cared about. And the mental image of Yuta being afraid, constantly looking over his shoulder whenever he went out, so afraid that he couldn’t even tell Kun that something was wrong...it was more than he could bear. “What do I have to do?” Kun asked. 

“I’m going to talk to Sicheng, he’ll want in on this too,” Ten explained. “But it’s just going to be us three. I don’t want the apprentices having anything to do with this. If something goes wrong, they can still find other covens. They’ll have deniability if they don’t know anything about it.”

So Ten meant business. Especially if he wasn’t even going to tell Donghyuck, who had been dating Mark for some time now. He didn’t like the idea of lying to the apprentices, but he knew that Ten was right. If they were doing something dark, it was better that they knew nothing. Especially Renjun, who had always erred on the side of chaotic and whose jokes about wanting to hex people felt a little too close to the truth for his own good. 

“Okay,” Kun said, “What’s the plan?”

“I need to find out who’s doing this and why,” Ten said. “I need you to make me a trance potion. And I’ll need crystals from Sicheng.”

Kun swallowed hard. Psychic trance potions like the one Ten was talking about were difficult to make, and the ingredients were even harder to find. He wasn’t sure he could even make it right. And if he screwed it up, he risked putting Ten into a coma-like state. Any other time, for any other reason, and Kun would have denied him outright. He was a good potion maker. But he didn’t have the belief in his abilities required for a potion of that caliber with that kind of risk. 

But Kun had known since he had joined Ten’s coven that there were people who did not like Johnny and his pack for the mere reason that they were werewolves. People picked fights with the members of his pack because they knew that they were easy targets who would do anything to defend their leader. While their loyalty was admirable, it also meant that Johnny’s boys--particularly Yukhei--fell easily into the traps that were set for them. They’d had a couple of problems in the past with particularly conservative locals vandalizing their house, or leaving anti-supernatural pamphlets in their mailboxes. While it was unpleasant, it was mostly easy to ignore. Kun had never thought it would grow to actual violence. 

It seemed he was wrong. 

“Once I find out who’s behind this, I’m going to put a stop to it,” Ten explained. 

“I’d follow you anywhere, Ten, but not into murder,” Kun said cautiously. 

“I’m not going to kill anyone,” Ten said, though his tone made Kun think he had considered it. “But if anyone gets hurt before we get to them, I’m going to make them wish that I had.”

“This gets traced back to you and we’re over,” Kun said. 

Ten waved this off as if it didn’t concern him in the slightest. “As of right now, the goal is just to find out who. I want to keep an eye on them. It’s possible they just want to make Johnny and the pack scared so they’ll skip town. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Kun tongued the inside of his cheek. “How are we going to get the ingredients? Empathy doesn’t sell half the shit I’d need for that potion.”

“No, but Taeyong will get his hands on it,” Ten assured. “Don’t worry about the ingredients, you’ll have them. All you have to do is make it.” 

Kun drummed his fingers on the worktop. He couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t scared of the implications of this. Despite all of the bullshit that Johnny’s pack had to endure on a regular basis, things had really fallen into place for Kun and the people that he loved in the past year. Ten and Johnny would be married in six months. Sicheng had finally opened himself up to love and was talking about getting an apartment nearby with Taeil. Donghyuck and Renjun were getting ready to graduate their apprenticeship and become full witches. They had just welcomed three new witches into their coven, young men who seemed to be good boys and fit in well with the rest of them. And Kun? Kun was in a better place than he had been in years. He was doing what he loved with people he loved. He was head over heels for Yuta, and he was convinced that he was going to spend the rest of his life with that man. 

Anything that disrupted his perfect future was a problem he couldn’t allow. 

“Give me a day and time,” Kun agreed with a nod. In a practice like theirs, especially with a potion like this, timing was absolutely everything. Ten needed the energy of the universe on his side, and that was nothing to trifle with. 

“I knew I could count on you,” Ten said, giving Kun’s arm a small squeeze and offering him the first smile, albeit a small one, since he had walked in the room. “I’m going to go talk to Sicheng. I suggest you go see Yuta. See what you can find out about this little companion of his.”

Kun nodded solemnly and started to clean up his work area. The herbs could wait. Yuta absolutely could not. 

 

********************

“I knew I shouldn’t have told Taeil,” Yuta said, sighing as he settled into the couch of the werewolf house. It was unusually quiet in there these days. Half of the pack were still students in some capacity. It was Taeil’s turn to do the grocery shopping this week, and Johnny was out doing wedding preparation with Ten. This meant that the couple had the entire house to themselves. 

Kun didn’t like when the werewolf house was quiet. It felt out of character. This place was supposed to be a mess of young men climbing all over each other, talking loudly, cooking poorly, arguing over absolutely nothing. The place was supposed to be cluttered, covered in someone’s homework and someone else’s clothes, and discarded snack packaging. Seeing it clean and quiet made Kun almost uncomfortable. 

“No, you were right to tell Taeil,” Kun countered. “And you should have told Johnny. And you should have told  _ me. _ ” Kun didn’t want to fight with his boyfriend. He hated confrontation. And the two of them, though dating for a year, had only gotten into a small handful of actual arguments. Kun wanted to keep it that way. 

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Yuta explained. “It’s probably nothing. I’m just being paranoid because of what happened to Jisung.”

“Paranoid or not, I’m worried  _ now.  _ Especially because of Jisung.”

Kun’s heart sank when he thought of the youngest werewolf in the pack, just barely seventeen and now starting to worry for his life because other people were ignorant. If something like that had happened to one of the apprentices, Kun didn’t know what he would have done. But he imagined he would have behaved something like Johnny had, who had stormed the school and demanded that something be done because children needed to feel safe in their educational environment and it was their duty to protect their students. 

They ran the tapes from the cameras near Jisung’s locker. But the students who had vandalized had covered their faces. The school claimed that there was no more they could do for Jisung. Johnny had spent the next week seething. No one could blame him. Sicheng had stocked the teenager up with protection crystals from there on out. 

“I’m fine,” Yuta said, shaking his head and placing his hand on Kun’s knee. “We’re just...getting into some scary times. But it’s okay. We’re all okay.”

Kun wasn’t convinced. But they wouldn’t know anything for certain for a few weeks until he could make his potion anyway. There was no use putting himself into a panic when there was very little he could do for the time being. 

“You saged the house? Can you please let Yangyang put a sigil by the front door? He’s really good at them, and it would give me peace of mind.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, baby,” Yuta assured and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. 

What would make Kun feel better would be for all of this to stop. But he knew that was a long shot. He was glad Yuta would at least allow him to do the menial things that might not do as much as he had hoped, but if the wolf house  _ appeared  _ like it was under the protection of a coven, it might encourage humans to back off. For the time being, he would take what he could get. 

“You’re tense,” Yuta hummed, adjusting Kun to shift so that he was positioned in a way that allowed Yuta access to his shoulders. Kun sighed into his touch as he allowed his boyfriend to rub his shoulders. When he had started dating the werewolf, his reputation had preceded him. He was a flirt, a player who never stayed with the same person for more than a night. Kun thought the idea of that was laughable. Yuta was nothing but the sweetest, most doting person he had ever known. 

“Stop trying to get into my pants just because we’re home alone,” Kun teased, but he let his head fall forward so that Yuta could have better access to the knots around his neck. 

Yuta chuckled, but to his credit, his touches remained completely chaste. He just wanted to make Kun relax. The other was an expert in worrying, and Yuta would have none of it. He was the exact opposite, to a degree that honestly stressed Kun out more often than it didn’t. He couldn’t understand how someone could have such a carefree attiude when he was worried about nearly everything. “I  _ do  _ love to hear you moan,” he teased, which earned him a smack from Kun. 

“Be serious,” he chastized. “Someone’s trying to hurt you guys and you’re out here being a flirt. Haven’t you seen any horror movies? The flirty couple are always the first to die.”

“Our houses are full of flirty couples,” Yuta pointed out as he rubbed into a particularly tense area in Kun’s shoulder. “And a couple of triads. I think you and I would be pretty safe, actually.”

He wasn’t entirely wrong there. It seemed miraculous how their friend groups had managed to get nearly everyone coupled up. But he supposed when you spent enough time around the same group of people, something like this was bound to happen to some degree. 

“I’m really thankful that Johnny sent me to come get the healing tea that day,” Yuta said softly, as if their minds had been on the same train of thought. “I can’t believe I had spent so long in that pack and never met you.”

“I kept-- _ keep _ \--pretty much to the basement of the cottage,” Kun hummed. “It’s not  _ that  _ surprising.”

“Still,” Yuta frowned before he placed a kiss to the back of Kun’s head. “Johnny sending me on that errand meant I got to meet you. And now that you’re in my life, I can’t imagine you not being in it. I hate that we went so long apart.”

“Stupid, sappy, possessive werewolf,” Kun teased fondly with a smile. 

“You love it,” Yuta countered as he wrapped his arms around Kun’s waist and pulled him into his lap. “You witches love when we get snappy over you guys. Don’t even pretend. Ten nearly lost his  _ mind  _ when Johnny growled at someone last month. And don’t pretend that you didn’t jump me in the bar after I snapped at that guy who tried to flirt with you.”

“What can I say, it’s nice being wanted,” Kun smiled as he nuzzled his face into Yuta’s neck. Dating a werewolf definitely had its perks. The possessive tendencies, in Kun’s eyes, was definitely one of them. He and Ten liked to joke around that dating a werewolf was not too unlike havng a perpetual guard-dog around. It wasn’t as if he was exactly wrong. Perhaps it was a stereotype, but werewolves had a strong sense of loyalty to those close to them. Kun knew that to be true for the pack he had come to know so well. Any of them would do anything in their power for the people that they loved. 

Maybe that was part of the reason Kun loved them all so much. They had that in common. 

He looked back up at Yuta and brushed some of the hair out of his face. During any other interaction, he might tease his boyfriend about how it was getting too long and that he should just let Doyoung cut it already. But now he was feeling protective and sentimental. And somehow the idea of him getting a haircut would ruin everything. Because he was in love with Yuta. He was in love with Yuta to the point that he had told Ten to stop reading the romance part of his charts whenever they had a session. Because if the stars would dare to say anything about the two of them being apart, he didn’t want to hear it. The thought of it was unfathomable. 

He didn’t know what was going to come of the mess he was getting involved with. What he did know was that it had the potential to tear down everything he had so carefully built for himself. He thought about what his parents would say. They would be disappointed, for certain. They might even disown him. If he was shunned by the community, their reputation would be damaged by association. He wondered, for a moment, if his mother would follow him into exile. He doubted his father would.

Kun shook his head. That was neither here nor there. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like it was going to get that far anyway. The potion Ten was asking for wasn’t considered within the realm of dark magic...though it got eerily close. If others found out what they were doing, they might get some looks and questions, but they could argue self defense and no one would give them too hard a time after that. 

Besides. This was likely the result of some punk teenage humans with conservative parents who thought they were cool for doing something edgy. None of them had gotten physically hurt. They still didn’t technically know if Yuta was being followed. This would all blow over in a couple of weeks, and they could all go back to normal life and listening to Johnny and Ten bicker about the details of their wedding. 

The idea of that sounded pretty amazing to Kun. 


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, you know Ten’s motto,” Kun replied with a shrug.
> 
> “Yeah, ‘never question Ten’, but...shouldn’t we?” Sicheng asked.
> 
> Kun shook his head. “Not this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry these updates take so much time, but I want this writing to be genuinely good. Also I'm a second semester senior and I'm tryina graduate in three months. [Cue existential panic]. 
> 
> Thank you for loving this universe. Please continue to leave me all of your thoughts!

 

Kun’s favorite part of being a member of Ten’s coven was the teaching. Hands down. Ten vastly preferred doing chart readings, and Sicheng didn’t have the patience for the apprentice’s many questions (he had a propensity for messing up when he got a little too nervous). None of this was the case for Kun. He was poised, careful, and loved watching people learn. He felt no greater joy than when he watched the apprentices finally get a piece of magic correct that they had messed up numerous times beforehand. It made him feel like he was doing something right. It made him feel like he was a part of their future success. 

Particularly, he loved watching the newer apprentices find their specialties in the field. Yangyang had a special gift for sigils, forming intricate designs that held solid power. Kun could only imagine the magic he would be able to do when he learned more and got stronger. Hendery and Xiaojun were still trying to find their particular skills, but Kun could see that they were getting closer by the day. Even if it took them a while, he didn’t mind. He would wait and be their biggest cheerleaders once they finally sorted it all out. 

Donghyuck and Renjun were a slightly different story, but Kun loved teaching them nonetheless. Both had come into themselves and their magic brilliantly since they had entered the coven. Donghyuck was excellent with glamours. This could be dangerous, as it meant that people could easily fall to his charm and do whatever was his will. He had even glamoured makeup products in order to help boost people’s confidence, or give them better shots in job interviews and exams. It was an incredible talent, and Kun was always impressed. 

Renjun was, most would say, a con artist. Kun, however, would affectionately call him a trickster. His magic was less restrained--cards flinging, puffs of smoke, small bursts of flame, disappearing acts. He was an actor. But his penchant for illusion magic made that job especially easy for him. Kun had to admit, even he got duped sometimes. And he knew how the tricks worked. 

Kun had just finished his lesson on antidotes. Though he had a smile on his face, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was one of their most important lessons to date. All he could do was hope that the students had taken it seriously, and that their notes were clear and concise. Kun hoped they would never have to use what he had taught them today, but one could never be too careful.

He tried not to make a habit of listening in on the kids’ conversations as he cleaned up his ingredients. He didn’t want to be like Ten--always sticking his nose in places people didn’t necessarily want it, even if he had the best of intentions. But sometimes, it couldn’t be helped. Especially when he heard Donghyuck’s tone turn worried as he spoke with Renjun. 

“Mark’s going to let me glamour a concealer for him. It’s not much, but he won’t let me do anything else. He’s scared, and it’s making  _ me  _ scared. That guy in his bio class won’t leave him alone.”

“I’m just saying, get me a name, and he’s as good as hexed. Ten can bug me all the hell he wants after,” Renjun replied as he gathered is bag. 

“This keeps up much longer, and I might help you…” Donghyuck mumbled. 

Kun watched as the young witches ascended the stairs of the basement and waited until they were gone for him to brace himself against the worktop and let out a long sigh. So, things were still bad. And now Mark was a target too. As if they needed another reason to worry. Kun could only hope that Ten would be able to gather the ingredients for the potion before Renjun decided to do something hasty. This was one thing, a hex was something else entirely. If Renjun got caught, it could be dangerous for him. He could risk suspension at the very least, expulsion at the worst. And while Renjun didn’t care about his formal education nearly as much as he cared about these lessons and his street magic, it was still important to everyone else that he went through with his degree and graduated without any issues.

Kun was still worried that things were only going to get worse from there. For now, though, all he could do was gather up his things and head back into the main level of the cottage.

Kun found Sicheng in the living room typing furiously at his laptop with his eyebrows furrowed. This was unusual for Sicheng, whose game-playing tended to be limited to apps on his phone, rather than anything that could be downloaded to a computer. 

“What’s got you looking so constipated?” Kun teased. 

“Trying to find the stupid crystals Ten wants on some sketchy websites,” Sicheng explained with a frown. “Some of this shit gets  _ expensive.  _ And I don’t know where Ten thinks he’s going to get the money for all of this.”

“Well, you know Ten’s motto,” Kun replied with a shrug.

“Yeah, ‘never question Ten’, but...shouldn’t we?” Sicheng asked. 

That question hung heavy in the air for a moment. Kun had never even considered that before. Not seriously. He had always trusted that Ten had their best interests at heart and would do what he thought was right in order to keep everyone they loved as safe as possible. Besides, he was the most powerful psychic Kun had ever known. The idea that Ten could be wrong had genuinely never occurred to him before. 

Kun shook his head. “Not this time.” He considered himself an excellent judge of character. He firmly believed that if Ten was acting out of order, or in a way that would begin to genuinely harm any of the coven...he would know. That time hadn’t come yet. “Ten knows things we could never even fathom, Sicheng.”

Sicheng hummed and turned his attention back to his computer. They both knew, at the very least, that this was true. Ten was able to accomplish as much as he had in such a short amount of time because he held a ridiculous amount of power. And loathe as they both were to admit it--Sicheng especially when it came to his romance with Taeil--Ten had yet to be wrong about something that would come to pass. Neither of them could know what Ten had seen or  _ hadn’t  _ seen about what was going on with the werewolves. At this point in time, they just had to trust that he was acting in accordance with what the universe had shown him. And that if he thought these steps were necessary, then they absolutely were. 

“We’re going to have to keep an eye on Hyuck and Renjun,” Kun said to change the subject. “And tell Taeil to keep an eye out for Mark. I’ll tell Yuta the same. There’s apparently someone in one of his classes giving him a hard time.”

“Mark too?” Sicheng asked, finally looking up from his laptop. “The high schoolers pissed me off, but I get that. Teenagers are pieces of shit, you know? But Mark’s a junior in college. By the time you get to your twenties, you need to figure out your inter-personal shit.”

“Oh that’s hysterical coming from you, Mr. ‘it took me a near-death experience to make me realize I needed to tell my werewolf I love him’.” 

Sicheng flicked his hand at Kun as if his statement was nothing of consequence. Kun just laughed. It hadn’t been funny back then, in fact, it had been absolutely  _ horrifying.  _ But now it seemed almost funny. Everyone around the two of them had known that Sicheng and Taeil would be endgame. Everyone, it seemed, except for Sicheng. Now that they had figured out themselves, though, Sicheng seemed to forget that he had been grossly complicit in his own unhappiness for a time. 

“All I’m saying is that Mark shouldn’t be afraid that some asshole in his school is going to bother him because he hasn’t tried to hide the fact that he’s a werewolf. Like, come on. What  _ year  _ is it to these people? I can’t even imagine what Jeno must be going through.”

Kun chewed on the inside of his cheek. He hadn’t even thought about Jeno, who was still only a fledgling. If Mark was getting hell….

“Maybe I’ll make some tea for Injunnie and ask him how things are with his boyfriends. Use a roundabout way to see if there’s something up with him too.”

“Like Renjun’s going to say anything,” Sicheng said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re better off going to Empathy and asking Jaehyun, Doyoung, or Taeyong.”

“I need a bit more monkswood anyway,” Kun hummed, though it was mostly an excuse. He didn’t exactly have to place bets on whether or not the vampires would be at empathy at any given moment. He could be fairly certain that at least Doyoung, who did his work from home these days, would likely be over there helping Taeyong out. And it was true that he was more likely to get information out of him than his apprentices. 

And Kun was worried. Truly, actually worried about the gravity of the situation at hand. It seemed that something large and life-changing was on the horizon, and yet he was completely in the dark about it. It was times like these that made him wish that Ten would just  _ say  _ what he had seen and make life a little easier on them all. But he knew that wasn’t now things worked. 

So he was just going to have to find out for himself. 

 

* * *

 

 

“You really didn’t have to make me tea, Doyoung,” Kun insisted as he stirred the sugar cube into the delicate teacup. He absently wondered just how old the piece of China he was holding was. It had intricate pink florals, and the quality of it seemed to tell Kun that, at the very least, it wasn’t of this century. He felt a bit self-conscious holding it, as if breathing on it wrong might break it. 

Doyoung didn’t seem to have those concerns. His own teacup contained a deep red liquid that he could, for a moment, pretend was a rich fruit tea. It wasn’t, of course, the cup had to contain blood. As much time as Kun spent around vampires these days--more than he ever had up until a couple of years ago--the knowledge that they were drinking human blood around him would never cease to make him shiver if he thought too deeply on it. Doyoung, however, viewed this small social action as a courtesy. Doyoung couldn’t drink tea and it would be a bit awkward if Kun was the only one drinking anything. It was a nice gesture. But it was still a little strange. 

“Don’t think anything of it,” Doyoung said before taking a sip from his cup. Kun tried hard not to focus on the slightly darker hue the cup left on his lips. “I’m always glad for company around here. And when you said you were concerned about Jeno, well, a conversation like that isn’t really suitable for the Emporium.”

Kun nodded. He had forgotten that the Emporium was also home to prying faeries’ ears that went by the names of Chenle and Jaemin. When it came to conversations about Jeno, it was better that one of the vampire’s boyfriends weren’t around to hear the discussion at hand. Fae were tricky folk, and Doyoung knew that better than anyone else these days. It was just easier to go where they knew they wouldn’t have to worry about prying ears.

“I’m sorry Jaehyun isn’t here to have this talk too,” Kun lamented. “Taeyong too, since he’s become such a large part of your lives.”

“I can always relay whatever we talk about,” Doyoung said. “But I do have to say, I get more anxious the longer you avoid talking about whatever is on your mind.”

“Sorry,” Kun chuckled before taking a sip of his tea. “It’s just that I keep hearing more and more about how the werewolves are starting to get bothered at school. We’re doing the best we can to set them up with any kinds of defenses we can. And I just wanted to know if you knew if Jeno was facing anything similar. We want to keep him safe too. And the fae, of course, but they tend to get less...backlash, in general.”

When it came to supernatural sentiments, there were no “good” supernaturals. It was merely “bad” supernaturals, and “it depends” supernaturals. Werewolves and vampires had the worst reputations. They were, therefore, “bad”. Witches and fae  _ could  _ be good, if they didn’t act out and followed the rules. They could use their magic for the betterment of society. Therefore, whether they were deemed “good” or “bad” depended entirely on the individual. The others didn’t get the luxury of being able to speak for themselves.

Doyoung frowned and stirred his cup, though Kun couldn’t fathom why he would need to besides it simply being an old habit. “It’s been hard, yes,” he assented. “It’s hard to get him to talk about it--kids these days, you know--and it doesn’t make it easier that they’re in college now. If something happened in high school, we’d get an email about it. But things go so much more unnoticed in college. So unless Jeno tells us himself, we have no way of knowing what goes on. But I  _ did  _ catch wind of the destruction of a blood bag vending machine at the university when Jeno came home starving one day.”

So things were getting worse. Not just for the people that Kun cared about most deeply, but for the culture overall. He couldn’t imagine what must have been going through Jeno’s mind--to be a starving fledgling unable to find food while also being completely surrounded by it. People considered him a monster, but despite doing everything in his power to keep away from the behaviors that others considered monstrous, someone else had to do something to ruin that for them.  _ That  _ was the truly monstrous behavior in Kun’s eyes. 

But Kun was not the one to decide what was evil and what wasn’t. He didn’t mean to brag, but as far as he was concerned the world would be a much better place if those decisions were left up to him. Instead, they were made by human lawmakers who were afraid of what they didn’t understand, nor were they  _ willing  _ to understand. This meant that good people with big hearts, people like Jeno and Jisung, had to live constantly looking over their shoulders because of an aspect of their lives that they didn’t choose. And, in Jeno’s case, one that they had never even anticipated. 

“I’m so sorry,” Kun frowned. “Please, let us do something for him. I’m sure Hyuck would make a glamour, or Sicheng could give crystals? Yangyang is excellent with sigils, we could have one stitched to his bag.”

“That’s all very kind,” Doyoung smiled. For the first time since Kun had met the vampire, he could truly see the age in him. It was easy to forget as someone who watched him play video games with his partners, or playfully tease his adoptive son. Kun forgot, more often than not, that Doyoung wasn’t somewhere in his twenties like the rest of them. Doyoung had lived for centuries. He had seen times like this before, and he would see them again. He would see it all, in fact, until everything he had once loved became dust. 

Kun did not envy  that burden. 

“I may send him over to the cottage with Renjun one day, just to see what little extra boosts he could get. It certainly wouldn’t hurt him. And it might ease mine and Jaehyun’s minds,” Doyoung explained, tracing his finger over the delicate rim of his teacup. “These are frightening times, I’m sure you know. But we will get through them. We always do.” 

There was a distance in his tone and a fogginess in his eyes, a vague sorrow that seemed to imply  _ not everyone does. But we do.  _

“You’re not scared?” Kun asked. 

“Terrified,” Doyoung replied with a chuckle. “You heard about those werewolves near Incheon. People are starting to die now. It’s only a matter of time before it happens in Seoul. I can only hope that if it has to be anyone, it’s no one we know. It’s a selfish thought, but I can’t help it.”

Kun nodded. Doyoung was right. He tried not to think about it, but he was. Kun was honestly surprised that it  _ hadn’t  _ come to Seoul yet. He had figured that the city would be a breeding ground for these pseudo-revolutionaries. He was glad they had been able to put it off for as long as they had, but now it was only a matter of time. They just had to be ready.


End file.
